Field
The invention relates to determining features of surfaces and particularly to determining features of hot surfaces of different shapes.
Description of the Related Art
In several industrial environments, there is a need for monitoring various surfaces to be manufactured, their features and quality. The evenness of surfaces, for example, must stay within given limit values. Also other features of surface materials may need to be monitored. The surfaces to be monitored are frequently in motion. This applies to several planar surfaces, for instance.
Features of surfaces have been monitored either by visual observation or optically with cameras, for example. In some cases, optical monitoring is difficult, for instance when the surface to be monitored is extremely hot. This is the case for example in manufacturing steel sheet surfaces. Thermal radiation of the surface itself may cause problems to visibility. Likewise, smoke, flames and optical disturbances resulting from hot air make monitoring difficult. It is not easy to carry out surface monitoring by conventional methods, let alone by visual observation.
Typically, the targets being produced are also rather large, in which case it is not easy to capture an unbroken complete image that could be utilized. In one case, these targets are also measured with a plurality of different measuring devices. However, it is not easy to carry out visualization of the results from these different measuring devices as combined with accurate data on a complete image, obtained from the target source.